z:\ ambedkar\vol-02\vol2-05.indd MK SJ+YS 21-9-2013/YS-8-11-2013 364
364 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
appointed to devise franchise, frame constituencies and to recommend what adjustments were needed to be made in the form of the proposed popular Government as a consequence of the peculiar social conditions prevalent in India. So grossly indifferent was the Southborough Committee to the problem of making adequate provision for safeguarding the interests of the Depressed Classes that even the Government of India which was not particular in this matter, felt and called upon in paragraph 13 of then Despatch on the Report of the Southborough Committee to observe : “We accept the proposals (for non-official nomination) generally. But there is one Community whose case appears to us do require more consideration than the Committee gave it. The Report on Indian Constitutional Reforms clearly recognised the problem of the Depressed Classes and gave a pledge respecting them. The castes described as ‘Hindus—others’ in the Committee’s Report though they are defined in varying terms, are broadly speaking all the same kind of people. Except for differences in the rigidity of their exclusion they are all more or less in the position of the Madras Panchamas, definitely outside the part of the Hindu Community which is allowed access to their temples. They amount to about one-fifth of the total population, and have not been represented at all in the Morley-Minto Councils. The Committee’s Report mentions the Depressed Classes twice but only to explain that in the absence of satisfactory electorates they have been provided, or by nomination. It does not discuss the position of these people of their capacity for looking after themselves. Nor does it explain the amount of nomination which it suggests for them. Paragraph 24 of the Report (of the Franchise Committee) justified the restriction of the nominated seats on grounds which do not suggest that the Committee were referring to the Depressed Classes. The measure of representation which they proposed for this Community is as follows :
Total Province population in millions
Population of Depressed classes in millions
Total Seats
Seats for the Depressed Classes
Madras .. .. 39.8 6.3 120 2
Bombay .. .. 19.5 .6 113 1
Bengal .. .. 45.0 9.9 127 1
United Provinces .. .. 47.0 10.1 120 1
Punjab .. .. 19.5 1.7 85 ....
Bihar and Orissa .. .. 32.4 9.3 100 1
Central Provinces .. .. 12.0 3.7 72 1
Assam .. .. 6.0 .3 54 ....
221.2 41.9 791 7
These figures speak for themselves. It is suggested that the one-fifth of the entire population of British India should be allotted seven seats out of